Will The Collapse of Planned Parenthood Mean the End of The Abortion Industry?

Right now, the set up for abortion in the United States is not sustainable for Planned Parenthood.

The way things are done in the U.S. with surgical abortion predominating, it requires a heck of a lot of overhead and specialized, expensive labour.

Now, I think that the preference for first trimester surgical abortion will always remain because it's over and done with in one day.

But abortion pills change the dynamic.

Yes, there has to be a backup surgeon available to suck out left-over tissue, if necessary

But anyone who does D & C's-- even pro-life doctors-- can serve the purpose, assuming the embryo is dead. You won't leave your patient die of sepsis.

A general practitioner, or a nurse practitioner, the same professional who treats your kid's ear infection, can anonymously fill out a prescription for abortion pills, without raising any hackles.

And nobody has to know.

I can see this happening in private offices. Ultrasound are no longer huge machines costing tens of thousands of dollars. You can get a smartphone version, and for the purposes of a medical abortion, it can do the job.

If Planned Parenthood collapses, there will still be abortions. Only the model will change. It will be much less visible. It will probably be handled by lone providers hiding behind their "general practice".

And maybe these abortions are somewhat more troublesome than surgical abortions, but they get the job done.

The problem with this model, from the pro-life perspective, is that it's a little harder to protest the GP who does abortions, when he treats the community's ear infections, sore throats, STD's and so on.

If you make life hard on this person, it won't just be abortion clients who'll be unhappy. It will be all the patients this doctor sees.